Tampa Bay Rants and Raves is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyles and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - some of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

Show trial will not achieve its goal

Last week’s show trial in our nation’s swamp will not achieve its ultimate goal – and that is to keep a bumbling Democrat or one of his hangers on in the White House past the first few weeks of 2025. It might not be Trump returning to the White House, but unless there is a seismic shift in America’s fortunes, a Republican will be in the Oval Office come 2025. Further, that Republican, again barring a change of enormous proportions, will have a majority in both houses of Congress. And that individual will need it to undo the severe damage Biden and his cronies have perpetrated on our citizenry in less than eighteen months.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

An armed guy bent on assassination is captured at Supreme Court Justice Brent Kavanaugh’s home. You would not know about this if your only news source was “Florida’s Best Newspaper.” If the same whacko was in the vicinity of the Kagan residence, it would rate a World War III front page headline.

News item: Convicted U.S. Rep Corrine Brown files to fill the seat vacated by Val Demings. We forget that Nixon, Agnew and Andrew Gillum are not available to run.

Related to our lead article, The New York Times reports that Democratic movers and shakers are now quietly advising Biden to step aside come 2024.

Energy news from the not necessarily 5:05 Newsletter: Biden invokes Defense Production Act - demands oil companies begin drilling for baby formula.

If you try to make a deposit tomorrow (June 20) and find your bank closed, it’s because it’s Juneteenth, another Biden-created federal holiday where you will be working so you can help pay for another day off for federal employees. Enjoy!

Another victory for the speech police, Chiefs, the 65-year-old logo of Tampa’s Chamberlain High School, apparently will bite the dust. And while they are, pardon us, on the warpath; don’t forget the school’s yearbook is called the Totem. Certainly something has to be done about that.

Seen on a T-Shirt: “We the people….” – It doesn’t need to be rewritten, it needs to be reread.

This week in June 1879 (6/21): Frank W. Woolworth opens his 1st successful "F. W. Woolworth Great Five Cent Store" in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Sports, media and other stuff:

Things keep getting worse for CNN. After the failed launch of CNN+, the network now finds its prime time programming behind the #2 conservative network Newsmax.

Idle thought: It has been so refreshing to watch an everyman, Ryan Long, run off a 16-day string of wins on Jeopardy after a season of nose rings, tattooed ladies and other oddities.

Seldom does an actor do a “one and done” appearance and leave such a lasting impression as Philip Baker Hall’s Lt. Bookman on Seinfeld. The veteran of innumerable films and plays died last week at age 90.

We’re glad Tampa’s New Year’s bowl has picked up a new sponsor, but you have to admit ReliaQuest Bowl doesn’t’ have quite the cache of Outback Bowl.

This week marks the official start of summer and, as usual, we provide five songs for your summer music platform: The 5^th Dimension’s On the Beach; Sailing to Paradise by Pablo Cruise; Summer Means Fun sung by the immortal Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids; Jan and Dean’s classic Ride the Wild Surf and On the Island by Brian Wilson with He and She.

Joe Madden had a good run here in Tampa Bay; he took a ready to win team off the hands of Rick Renteria and won his division two of five years then posted three losing seasons in LA. To many, he remains one of the most overrated managers of the last 25 years, but chances are good somebody else will hire him - our bet: Colorado.

Related note: Last week, White Sox fans were heard chanting “Fire Tony” as in Hall of Fame manager Tony LaRussa. Be careful of what you wish for.

Fifty years ago, a group of young international singers were on virtually every TV singing “I’d like to buy the world a Coke.” Not to be outdone, the group The New Seekers adapted the song for a Top 10 record I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.”

Color Him Father (with thanks to the Winstons)

Last month, when we polled our Focus Group about their most admired American, one member’s answer, without equivocation, was his Dad. We knew this great man most of our life, and in addition to our own Dad, we would agree. In fact, we have been privileged to know all but one of our Focus Group’s Dads. And from what the lone exception has told us about her Dad, he, too, was a great individual. Our Focus Group is an outstanding group of people and they all reflect their Dads. Several of these men came from humble beginnings and made a great success of themselves, but more importantly, they gave us a sense of responsibility and a conscience that hopefully we have all passed along to our children. Today, our Focus Group gives thanks for the seven wonderful men we could call Dad.

NEXT UP: Lots about the Rays; Rob Carson; “Uncle Walter”

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